Western Collegiate Hockey League

The Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) is a Division 1 collegiate ice hockey league in the ACHA, which is the highest non-varsity Club Level for college hockey. The ACHL is made up of ten teams from the Western United States.

Western Collegiate Hockey League
WCHL
Established2012
AssociationACHA
DivisionDivision I
Members10
Sports fielded
RegionWestern United States
Websitehttp://www.westernchl.com/

History

In 2012, the WCHL was created and played its first season in the ACHA in 2013-14 with six founding member teams.[1] Arizona, Arizona State, Central Oklahoma, and Oklahoma joined the league after competing as ACHA D-1 Independent programs. Those four teams, joined Colorado and Colorado State, who made the transition to from ACHA D-2 to ACHA D-1.[1][2]

In the WCHL's first two years of competition, they won back-to-back ACHA D-1 National Championships, which is now hosted at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.

In 2013–14, Arizona State defeated Robert Morris for the 2013–14 ACHA D-1 National Championship. And in 2014–15, Central Oklahoma defeated Stony Brook for the 2014–15 ACHA D-1 National Championship.

During the 2014 season, Arizona State announced their departure from the WCHL D-1 Club Level and established a formal NCAA D-1 ice hockey program for the 2015–16 season. This move left the WCHL with five members until the league announced the additions of Arkansas who created a new ACHA D-1 hockey club after years of success at the ACHA D-3 level, and Missouri State who moved up from the ACHA D-2 level on January 12, 2015.[3]

Not to be confused, Arizona State's NCAA D-1 team is the only Independent men's hockey team in the country, but ASU also maintains both ACHA Club Level teams with our WCHL D-1 Sun Devils, and the PAC-8 D-2 Sun Devils, respectively.

In 2017, Central Oklahoma won their 2nd ACHA D-1 National Championship after defeating Ohio University.

Subsequently, Arkansas left the WCHL after the 2018–19 season, and (currently) no longer has a D-1 hockey club.

Expansion

In September 2019, the WCHL expanded from seven to ten teams with the addition of University of Utah, UNLV, and Grand Canyon University for the 2020–21 season.

Format

With ten member schools in the conference, beginning in the 2020–21 season, the WCHL is now divided into two geographic divisions for conference play. Each WCHL team will play a home-and-home series against every conference member within its division, as well as one home series and one road series against conference members from the opposite division, for a total of 20 WCHL conference games per season.

Potential expansion candidates

The West Division: BYU Hockey, if they're willing to part ways with the Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League and elevate to D-1 competition. And Utah State University, if Grand Canyon decides to dropped down to D-2 competition.

The East Division: The University of Northern Colorado who are the 2017, 2018, and 2019 champions of the Big Mountain Hockey Conference at the ACHA D-2 level.

Conference divisions
The West The East
Arizona Colorado
Arizona State Colorado State
Grand Canyon Missouri State
UNLV Oklahoma
Utah Central Oklahoma

Current Teams
School Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname NCAA Conference Colors
University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 1885 Public 38,057 Wildcats Pac-12 (D-I)    
Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 1885 Public 69,317 Sun Devils Pac-12 (D-I)    
University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK 1890 Public 17,101 Bronchos MIAA (D-II)    
University of Colorado Boulder, CO 1876 Public 29,884 Buffaloes Pac-12 (D-I)      
Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 1870 Public 24,875 Rams Mountain West (D-I)      
Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ 1949 Public 20,500 Antelopes WAC (D-I)      
Missouri State University Springfield, MO 1905 Public 22,385 Bears MVC (D-I)    
University of Nevada-Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 1957 Public 30,704 Rebels Mountain West (D-I)          
University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 1890 Public 29,721 Sooners Big XII (D-I)    
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 1850 Public 33,058 Utes Pac-12 (D-I)      

Conference Arenas
School Hockey Arena Capacity
Arizona Tucson Convention Center 6,791
Arizona State New Multi-Purpose Arena (2022) 5,000
Central Oklahoma Arctic Edge Ice Arena 700
Colorado CU Student Rec Center 700
Colorado State Edora Pool Ice Center (EPIC) 700
Grand Canyon AZ Ice Arcadia 200
Missouri State Jordan Valley Ice Park 700
Oklahoma Blazers Ice Centre 700
UNLV Henderson Event Center (2022) 6,000
Utah Salt Lake City Sports Complex 1,200

ACHL Conference Champions

a * The Coronavirus pandemic prematurely ended the 2019-2020 regular season.

Year ACHL Champion Runner Up
2013–14 Arizona State Oklahoma
2014–15 Arizona State Central Oklahoma
2015–16 Central Oklahoma Colorado
2016–17 Central Oklahoma Arizona State
2017–18 Central Oklahoma Colorado
2018–19 Arizona Central Oklahoma
2019–20 * Arizona * Arizona State

ACHA D-1 National Champions

Year ACHA National Champion
2013-2014 Arizona State
2014-2015 Central Oklahoma
2016-2017 Central Oklahoma

References

  1. "Western Collegiate Hockey League To Begin Play in 2013-2014". ACHA. November 14, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  2. "Four New Teams Join Men's Division 1 for 2013-2014". ACHA. October 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  3. "WCHL ADDS MISSOURI STATE AND ARKANSAS FOR 2015-2016". WCHL. January 12, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2014.

See also
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